By Sarmad Ali
Islamabad (Pakdestiny.com) Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the Rangers raid on the Karachi Building Control Authority and other offices on Monday amounted to taking over the functions of the provincial government and and questioned the motives of the para military force behind its overzealous but illegal drive.
He said that the Rangers had been requisitioned in Karachi under Article 147 of the Constitution and under section 4 of the ATA Act specifically to prevent the commission of terrorist acts and other scheduled offences in notified areas.
Issues in corruption and governance must be addressed resolutely without fear or favor through legal institutions like NAB, PAC, anti corruption departments and courts and not by resort to illegality, he said.
Under its mandate duly notified the Rangers have no business to take cognizance of offenses like violation of building codes, developmental projects and issues in governance as these were neither acts of terrorism not included in the scheduled offences.
It also needs to be investigated as to whether there was a method in what appears to be madness, he said
He said that the raids by masked Rangers personnel on government offices and an earlier public rebuke of the political set up by the corps commander indicated a pattern and a method.
A plan seems afoot to dislodge the provincial government and let the security dominated apex committee and rangers take over its functions, he said.
He said that according to reports recently some agencies had demanded thousands of acres of land from the provincial government which the latter declined and wondered if this too was a factor in the building of the present hype.
Senator Babar then asked three specific questions:
One, whether the rangers had been summoned under clause 1 of sub section 3 of section 4of AT Act 1997 to curb terrorism and other offences listed in the schedule.
Two, whether offenses like violation of building codes, developmental projects and issues in governance were also included in the said schedule of offences of which the rangers allowed to take cognizance or not?
Three, whether the June 15 raid by rangers was not a transgression of its authority and and beyond the schedule of offences and if so what action was contemplated? – Pakdestiny
He said that we salute the sacrifices of the rangers jawans but cannot permit some officers to do politics using these sacrifices of jawans as its basis.